Holocaust Reflection

With something as diabolical as the Holocaust, it is important to know what situations and events led up to it. It all begins with anti-semitism. When Germany was defeated in 1918, Hitler blamed rich Jews for betraying the nation. Hitler became involved with politics in 1919 and began to lead a small Nazi Party. His hatred towards Jews became a much greater issue when he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Hitler passed the Nuremberg Laws, which hindered the life of the Jews. These laws held back Jewish people from doing things they should have a right to do. Although it wasn’t until November of 1938 that the Nazis implemented mass violence in their hateful tactics to get rid of the Jews. Krystallnacht, which means “the night of the broken glass”, was a terrible event for the Jews. The Nazis burned synagogues, smashed stores, and about 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. The Nazi movement carried into Poland, France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, and Denmark, where many more Jews were forced into the hands of the Germans. The Nazis were concerned that they were not eliminating people fast enough; they wanted to kill as many people as they could and sacrifice the least amount of time. This thirst for murder created the idea of extermination camps. These camps would use technology to help the Nazis fulfill their cruel plan of mass-extinction. This is better known as Hitler’s “Final Solution”. Lives were taken away in gas chambers and disposed of in burning furnaces. Anti-semitism is traditional, and Hitler hated Jews. When he took control of Germany he used propaganda to steal the German people for his wicked plans. Hitler may have been the ringleader, but it is the collaboration of millions of regular people that helped bring into effect his plan to exterminate the Jewish “race”.

... be Judenfrei (cleansed of Jews). Day after day new concentration camps were set up all over Nazi Germany and Jews were deported there. But ... 1936 Anti-Semitism posters and banners were taken down because Hitler did not want the whole world to know what was ... the Jews were not liked by the people of Europe and in the reign of the Nazis this became much worse. The Nazis officials ...

One of the few things the Holocaust taught us is that man is not born good. Eleven million people were murdered; that act did not come from a good heart. The Holocaust is an example of what can become of an evil heart if it gets the best of somebody. Goodness is not born within us. In addition, the Holocaust shows us that if we stand by and watch as evil things occur around us, we are only adding fuel to the fire. “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke. In contrast, if good people make a stand and fight the good fight, good will be able to triumph over evil. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it” – John 1:5. If people stood up for what was right when the world needed them to, I believe many lives could have been saved. Nobody is perfect, but we are all human. There are no different “races”; we are all the same. Hitler had an intense hate for Jewish people, but if he was able to look beyond his prejudice attitude and realize that Germans and Jewish people are equals, the Holocaust could have been prevented.

The Holocaust is still relevant today. It is an example of humanity at its near worse. Some people may think, “The Holocaust was terrible, but thankfully it will never happen again.” I think that is a mistake the world is making right now; believing something like this cannot happen again, because it very well could. Gas chambers and Zyklon B are not required for mass genocide; machetes can be just as effective. If the world is serious about preventing genocide, it needs to focus on current situations and learn from history’s faults to help put a stop to it. If a person’s prejudice towards something – whether it is a religion, a skin color, or a different foolish reason, can get the best of them, terrible things can happen. Hitler let the beast within him take over and because of that, eleven million lives worth of love were wasted. Just because it is a new century, does not mean mass genocide cannot occur. Many people ask, “Why did God allow the Holocaust to happen?” To that I would answer, “His ways are not our ways.” Society in the 1930’s and 40’s did not stand up for the greater good of the lives around them. God cannot be held responsible for something humanity causes and ceases to prevent. Unfortunately, eleven million lives were lost before people woke up to the terror around them. Hopefully humanity will learn from its mistakes and we can move on to a more optimistic future. The Holocaust can be blamed upon God a lot, but my personal stance on it is simple:

... Kosovo and Yugoslavia, not much has changed. People thought nothing like the Holocaust would ever happen again. But it has, and it will ... for some Nazis to face the past and the horrible things they did. Persecution is not only a part of the ... of people, the Nazis; hatred for the Jews. The Nazis justified their actions, however, in an attempt to explain the horrible things ...

God did not let this happen; we did.

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

– Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)

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